Dear family and friends,
First of all, I am having so much fun working here. The local people are great. I have made a lot
of new friends and my Spanish is surprisingly not that bad. Today, we woke up at 5:50 (not as bad as it sounds), had mass like we do every day, and ate breakfast which was rice and beans, left over meat
from last nights dinner, bread, and pineapple. The fruit is so so good here.
After that, we headed to our work site which is in a small community called Guadalupe located
in a beautiful valley surrounded by gorgeous, green mountains. Today, we went to the school and got to hang out with the kids. Some of the ones that I have gotten closer with are Yared, Ignasio or “Nacho,” Nico, Santiago, and Matias. We played this game that we taught them called link tag and also sharks and minnows. One of my favorite parts of the trip is getting to know the kids at the school. Today when we arrived, they were all cheering and giving high-fives to us when we walked in which was really cool to see. Behind the school, there is a big hill and at the top there are lots of fruit trees such as mango, tangerine, lime, lemon, and even star fruit which is my favorite. We often climb the hill with the kids to pick the fruit and relax in the shade after playing games with them or planting trees which is difficult to do because it is pretty steep, the dirt is very loose, and the trees are heavy. Our other job is working at a church down the street where we are working to build an addition behind it so the priest has a place to prepare for mass. The back wall of the church is currently nonexistent, so instead, we have this breath- taking view of the mountains. Today, I helped in an assembly line to move cinder blocks to build the new walls of the church. I also helped the boys and a man named Manuel mix concrete. It was a lot of work, but he called me strong for being with them and later taught me a fun little handshake.
Overall, I am having such a great time here. The people are wonderful and so welcoming. Today,
we also had mass with some of the people that live in Guadalupe and they told us how grateful they
were to have us and that we are always welcome whenever we want to come back. I know that we are
really here to serve the Costa Ricans, but in a way, they are serving us. I have noticed really how much we have at home and how happy they are with the humble lives they lead. They work so hard and are always so patient and kind to us. I honestly feel like I can never do enough for them because of everything that they do for us.
Hope everything is fun back in Dallas. I miss you mom, dad, Evie, Baker, Rush, and all of my
friends. But, don’t worry about me, I am having the time of my life!
Josie Trent
